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only by precepts but by examples of endurance etc. unsurpassed in the history of the world.
What it was that led to the decline of Buddhism in India ? Amongst other things, the prime cause was the lack of discipline. The adhesion of large numbers of nominal converts, more especially from the newly incorporated and less advanced provinces in and outside India, brought in weakness rather than strength in the religion of Gauttam Buddha, and hence the strenuous support it received at the hands of such powerful kings as Asoka etc. only hastened the decline. Powerful though they were, they were compelled in order to add to the numerical strength of its adherents, to admit every relaxation of its primitive rigidity, which was only the thorough-going positiou in a country like India, especially when the lofty principles of Jainism had taken their stronghold upon the noble minds of the sons of India. To satisfy the whims of the converts and semi-converts, old ethics founded on philosophical basis were abandoned and new speculations were given place to; not only that, the soul theory began gradually to gain upper hand, the popular gods and the popular superstitions commenced again to be favoured by Buddhists themselves. These facts, which, I am sure, are well known to you,
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